How’s your “ex” doing? by Bob Ryan

Cardinals fans…I suppose all baseball fans….like to feel that when their team removed, traded, dropped a player or let him fly through free agency…that it was done at just the right time…that their team was a “little smarter” than the other team…well…here’s a look at some “ex-Cards” for better or worse…richer (free agents) or poorer… who are still in the MLB (some have moved “on” or “down” to the minors)….data from June 22-23 so it may have changed a bit since then but you get the idea .. sorted by Games (G)…if I missed someone…it was not schemed to do so…just missed him…or them

HitterG AB AVG HR R RBI OBP SLG

Albert Pujols 70 265 .234 12 28 45 .312 .396

John Jay 68 270 .296 2 35 23 .345 .407

Carlos Beltran 67 245 .286 19 38 48 .318 .563

Mark Reynolds 64 215 .290 7 35 28 .358 .447

Colby Rasmus 64 232 .233 9 37 31 .320 .388

Peter Bourjos 64 170 .229 2 16 14 .260 .347

David Freese 62 200 .295 6 33 27 .373 .455

Jason Heyward 61 238 .239 4 34 25 .330 .340

Brett Wallace 58 136 .213 4 13 11 .352 .368

AJ Pierzynski 43 143 .219 0 9 12 .219 .224

Daniel Descalso 21 39 .385 1 10 11 .467 .538

Pitcher G GS W-L ERA SV IP H SO WHIP

Steve Cishek 30 0 2-4 2.70 16 33 20 40 0.99

Blaine Boyer 29 0 1-1 3.67 1 34 37 12 1.37

John Lackey 14 14 7-3 2.78 0 94 68 97 0.98

Jason Motte 12 0 0-1 2.70 0 10 8 11 1.00

Shelby Miller 11 11 2-6 6.36 0 52 61 35 1.74

Matt Belisle 10 0 0-0 2.08 0 8 9 5 1.15

Edwin Jackson 8 0 0-1 5.91 0 10 13 7 1.78

Well…how IS ur “ex” doing?

… I’m surprised that Carlos Beltran is still a very good hitter @ 39 years old!

…John Jay seems to be thriving in the every-day lineup

…Jason Heyward appears to be headed towards his usual .250, 10 HR season with great Defense

…Mark Reynolds was always swinging for the fences here (that’s what they wanted him to do), he seems to be swinging more for average now since the HR come easy enough in Colorado

…Edwin Jackson is with his 10th team! When will they realize that they can’t make him good?

…John Lackey is a good, top level starter

….Blaine Boyer should have been gone years ago

…Steve Cishek has “found it” again with his sidearm delivery

…Shelby? Seems to be too young to be done but who knows

Some MLB questions to ponder…

….whose up next? as one forms a batting lineup, there are many considerations…one of them is to force the opposition to pitch to the best hitters on your team…well….why do the Angels think that anyone will pitch to Mike Trout with .211 Daniel Nava hitting behind him?

… shouldn’t he be playing most every day? I’ve come around on Brandon Moss….since Moss has 16 HR… I’m suggesting that Adams remains In the line-up with Piscotty in CF most days…Wong would be odd man out….further…I suggest Moss as #4 hitter …isn’t he a typical #4 hitter?…power, lower average, strikes out a lot? Let Wong come in to replace Moss or Holliday defensively and start a couple days/week. This is NOT a permanent MOVE…nothing in pro sports is permanent….but I’d go with this idea for 2-3 weeks to see its results.

…I haven’t seen Seattle Mariners play (on the tube) for ages so I was somewhat anxious to see them last night….ugh…their CF seemed to misjudge every fly ball on his 1st step, the pitcher had been elevated to the MLB just to face the Cards with his 89mph heater and yet he worked through 6 innings?…the lineup seemed like a Recycled Plant.all in all they looked bad to me

…should there really be MLB baseball in Florida?…recently the Marlins (3rd place, 6 games out) had 19,000+ in attendance. I really think Oklahoma would support MLB far better than the Marlins….too many people grew up elsewhere and have moved to Florida later in their lives so their allegiance isn’t to the Florida team..their attention is to the sun J

…has Matt Holliday come out of the witness protection program? Do ANY of you recognize him? Different shape, different looking face, now a beard? Is this the same guy?

…Texas Rangers are asking….again? Three members of their starting rotation are now on the DL after SP Colby Lewis (strained a muscle in his back) joins Yu Darvish and Derek Holland..this 1st place team may be forced into the trading corner as youngsters who are unable to crack the starting lineup regularly like Jurickson Porofar & Delino DeShields Jr (he really doesn’t need to use that “Jr” part of it…I mean….how many Delino DeShields have you ever heard of….anyway…both of them may be the bait for a #2 or #3 level starter

….why does he have me on the edge of my seat? Kolton Wong…his one-hand catches in CF always have me on edge…further…I question his arm as a CF….he just really doesn’t seem to fit.. to me… into the entire scheme of the composition of this team…see my article of a few weeks ago”Wong Must Go”. He does have speed…but u gotta get on base to use it J

…why now? the Royals seem to have the pieces in place lately…8-2 in last 10 games, running just behind the Cleveland Indians…

….how bad is Atlanta? Their cleanup hitter, Nick Markakis has no pop and is hitting .243.

…why has Diaz’s swing changed?….often, he no longer seems “solid” to me at the plate….he’s bending at the waist on outside pitches and hitting them softly to the right side—seems in too big of a hurry to begin running. We…at least me…did not expect him to hit .350 … or .320…or even .300 but I was hoping .270-.280 range with some pop…. His totals slipped badly in the last 2-3 weeks but he did punch out a dinger against the Cubbies….he’s clearly “the man” for the Cards @ SS this season.

…wonder if Brandon Phillips is 2nd guessing his decision to remain in Cincy?…the Reds are 20 games out of 1st place…and we aren’t to July yet…ugh

…he’s good…but how good?…Alex Reyes is 2-0 @ Memphis. He has a 3.45 ERA with 22 hits in 26 innings…the most eye-popping stat is 45 strikeouts in 26 innings. Someone suggested to me that he could come up and pull a Wainwright in his 1st year…be the closer!!

…what’s happened?…Andrew McCuthen went 0-3, striking out 3x as his average sank to .238 for the Pirates….he’s missing his long dreadlocks but come on…is this the same guy?

….the closer role has taken on a special, prestigious spot on the roster…there’s ONE closer and only ONE.. so with Rosenthal struggling…actually…blowing 3 consecutive leads…how will Manifesto play it…hang tough with Rosey? Switch to Oh-whatta-nite? Rotate? My guess is that he make a “temporary” change to Oh…if Rosey continues to struggle..that temporary change could mean “temporary until we move him on”

…is he worth it? Brayan Pena is really struggling in his “rehab”…his 3 of 19 at the plate @ AA-Springfield, he’s taken a “leave” for personal reasons and now his 20 day rehab deadline is fast approaching(Monday).. it appears the Cards will release Fryer…who’s done as much as the Cards ask any catcher behind Molina …is Pena worth all the trouble?

…others sports world questions that you can’t do without…or can you?..

….why did it take so long?…I see that the NHL will finally follow baseball’s long trend.. home stands…in the Blues 16-17 schedule, the Blues are often HOME for a week and gone for a week instead of winging in & out for a game or 2..not all weeks but several…the newest scheduling concept is the “bye” week .. each team gets 5 straight days away from games…

…will there be slots there also? So Vegas is getting a hockey team….everyplace that I’ve been in Nevada had slot machines…so will they be in the lobbies? Attached to your seats? Maybe some type of bet will be shown from the prime scoreboard above the rink while the spectator has in front of him in his seat some type of betting apparatus…I can see it now…OK folks, place your bets….which player will draw the 1st penalty? Take the 1st shot? Be in the 1st fight? Commit the 1st off-sides? At what time will the 1st goal be scored? What will be the time when the 1st whistle blows? Man…you could go on & on…heck..the owners could make more money on the betting than the attendance J ..btw…it looks like this torpedoes the Raiders thoughts of moving to Vegas

…not just an American game? ..nope..the NBA’s 1st round draft included 7 players from outside the USA collegiate ranks…and even some of those collegiate players were from other countries..clearly those top players from outside the USA belong in the NBA and seem to bring a different skill set…generally better passers, better moving w/o the ball, not as good slashing to the basket, often not quite as strong in the paint

…on the other hand in the NHL draft..a sport completely dominated by Canadian players, the first round of the draft saw many more Americans …including 4 from the Lou…it’s only taken 50 years for that to happen (expansion occurred in 1966) but I expect the trend to continue as American youth dedicate themselves to the sport (as they do in other sports)

…ya gotta admit …the Cleveland parade honoring LeBron…oops…the Cavaliers …was really overwhelming….for the spectators, the police, the players…lots of pure happiness and joy over the fact that the 1st pro championship in Cleveland since 1964 had been won….cool too…Jim Brown presented NBA Championship trophy to LeBron…the literal “passing of the guard” …I guess our boy… Roger Goonball could also have presented the trophy to LeBron since the Akron Pros won the very 1st NFL title in 1920…Akron is the home of LeBron..

….how bad does it hurt? Argentina destroys USA in soccer….I don’t know much about soccer but I know 4-0 is a whupping..a real bad whupping… let’s face it….these other countries have ALL of their best athletes playing soccer…in the USA we have some of our best athletes on the pitch but many other supreme athletes are playing other sports—just think how good LeBron James could be as a defender, or any one of many NFL WR as a wing on offense-using their speed to race down the sideline